Obama for president......Battle of Island Number Ten! ( Archived) (800)

Nice thing about our system of government, Hunter.....that is a guarrantee on January 20th of 2009

Bush is a Consitutionist as well, Hunter. He will step down, in my opinion. He left the Texas Governor office when his term ended. His Dad did. So I don't think that there is much be concerned about there.

I am not sure any President these days will have high approval ratings.
By the time they get to the office, they have been battered and maligned, had political cheap shots taken and negative campaining done on them.

In our country like ours......with its great diversity.....some group or groups is going to be unhappy with the person elected. So is kind of like take on the job of guarranteed headaches and Monday day quarterbacking.

JMO

Mike

If it was just the American public doing the honoring, I suspect they would welcome them home soon or later with great fan fare......just the way our people are. The point I make is about Military Honors. They can only be rendered (given) by the Commander in Chief.

Obama, as a President has a real problem here. He has been critical of the war, then on Jan 20th could be the Commander in Chief, and he is the one to sign the decrees and the honors to the units that participated in Iragi Freedom. Each of those units has a battle flag, that streamers for their actions (e.g. battles) would be attached. Obama has been saying.....'wrong war'.Seems to be me pretty hard to do both one day be criticizing the morality of the war and the next day to be giving those units battle steamers to units involved in it for heroic actions under fire.

But I guess stranger things have been done.

I see Sadam as someone that was going to fund terrorist groups around the world. He was already doing it with the Palestine suciede bombers in Isreal. Giving their family $35K after a attack. With his billions in oil revenues.....he was going to find groups to take it.
How much better would be with a major 9/11 attacks being frequent? It only cost $200K to do that attack. That was pocket change to Sadam.

Mission accomplished in Iraq is a couple things for me. One, forming a democracy has been done. If the Iraq wants us out of there now....simple don't sign the security agreements......adiodos Iraq. We are making fair agreement offers on the security agreements.

Another was bringing Sadam, his family and the leaders of the Bathe' party to Iraqi justice....note that is Iraqi justice...... is another mission accomplished. No leader has the right to do what he was doing to his people in my opinion. We did the same for Milosovic, yes? Only it was a a combination of military operations and democratic removal of him from power. No one complained...well except for the Serbs and Russians. We take down Sadam via military operations and yes installing a democracy .....and world is telling us hands off. But really what is the difference? Both were conducting military operations on their own people and killing them. That is a immoral gov't in place.

I know that Washington has its 19 benchmarks and 13 or so have been met. But to me those two were the 3 of my major ones.

I would like to see a solid Iraqi reconstruction program as the third of my mission accomplishments. But this one until you have security within the country and neighboring countries that are supporting it seems like a distant one to achieve. But unless those security agreement are reached.....we are likely history there. And what happens in Iraq then? That is President Maliki answer to make then. If they want us is one thing....they don't is another, in my opinion.

Maliki will need to make a choice. These security agreements tell us what the choice is. He can buddy with Iran and Syria and ask us out.
Or can he sign the security agreements and we stay and aid him with both reconstruction and security.

Using our Revolutionary war as a example. The French stayed for a time after the British were defeated. Then were politely asked to leave.
They did. That is where we are in Iraq. Maliki's call to make. I hope he makes the right one. But I don't think he will make the call until after
the Nov. election. He would be foolish to. He need to have the new administration in on them as well. That is a reason of several, we are getting stalled negotiations today.jmo

Access to a Wealth of Oil,when most (90%9 of the Oil-Contracts went to Europe and Elsewhere

I know Conrad, it is the great Iraqi Oil reasoning for the war. But if this just about Iraq oil........wish to know how it would played out in 2001
went we there?

Most all (85%) of the Iraq oil is in the south near Basra and Kuwait. The land that some of the oil fields sit on is disputed between, Kuwait and Sadam. Remember Sadam's Gulf War I reasons? Kuwait was part of Iraq. It goes both ways, Kuwait as claims on some of this Iraqi oils fields as well.

All we would have done, if this was just about oil.....was move into those fields and secure them with a perimeter ring of 30 miles from them...then let the battered, demoralized, poorly equiped Iraqi army come to us, trying to take them back. Against our dug in military and air power, they were no match to fight a offensive campaign.

We could have done it with 75,000 maybe and air support from the carriers. Not even needed the British or other forces that deployed with us.

Once the Iraqi military was spent trying to take the fields back. We get a choice....go to Baghdad or sit on the fields and give them to Kuwait.
And Kuwait sells the oil to us. Sadam would have fallen to his own people even. He would not of had the funds to finance terrorism. And we would not be playing footsie with AlQeada of Iraq or the militant clerics except for al-Sadyr in Basra.

I wonder what the world have said then. "The US invades Iraq for oil."
Would been every newspaper title and news talk show host segment.
And they would have been right.

But the reality is. The Brits got the oil fields, and the Europeans and far east got the oil. The US went to Baghdad looking for WMDs, Sadam and his sons. It was a decaption military operation from the word go.
Those same newspaper and media people....should have titled thier newspapers and shows...."US Invades Iraq, seeking Sadam (and WMDs)"

I had to give them something (and WMDs):-), Conrad...they get upset if you don't.